The court denied fossil fuel companies’ motion to stay proceedings in the City and County of Honolulu’s climate case against the companies pending  the Supreme Court’s resolution of Boulder. The court found that five considerations weighed strongly against a stay: (1) the Hawai ‘i Supreme Court had “clearly stated” that Honolulu’s suit was not preempted, and the court was therefore “firmly bound by that decision,” particularly as the U.S. Supreme Court had denied petitions for writ of certiorari from the decision; (2) the outcome of Boulder was too uncertain to justify a stay of at least 13 to 16 months; (3) the plaintiffs would be “significantly prejudiced” by the additional delay because they would lose “additional time and opportunity … to determine how best to respond to any impacts caused by Defendants’ alleged failure to warn and deceptive promotion”; (4) a stay would not serve judicial economy; and (5) the burden of discovery on defendants did not “in and of itself” justify a stay.

Lawsuit seeking damages and other relief from fossil fuel companies for alleged conduct that the City and County of Honolulu contends actually and proximately caused climate change impacts.

City & County of Honolulu v. Sunoco LP

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Hawai‘i Trial Court Denied Fossil Fuel Defendants’ Motion to Stay Climate Case Pending Supreme Court Resolution of Suncor v. Boulder 

Filed

United States of America

Hawaii

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.